


Suffer Little Children

by shania_uwu



Category: Demolition Lovers - My Chemical Romance (Song), The Cure (Band), There Is a Light That Never Goes Out - The Smiths (Song), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:47:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26539837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shania_uwu/pseuds/shania_uwu
Summary: Childhood friendship is one of the precious gifts that one can obtain. To what end?
Relationships: Kaminari Denki/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you all enjoy! This story is mostly written for practice with specific things that I struggle with when writing.

Kaminari Denki was a boy full of joy and ambitions. Aren’t most people that function well in society? He was a person who loved to make those around him laugh and smile at the many preposterous jokes that he would make. It made him feel fulfilled that for the moment in which that smile or laugh filled these strangers' faces, he meant something. Denki had always wanted to mean something greater than what he was to those around him. 

Though the school days were full of people walking aimlessly beside him with those that truly couldn’t care less about him in particular. He had felt so empty for so long, every day seemed to be the same. It led him to ask the same question on countless occasions, what did he have to live for? He wasn’t suicidal by any means, he just didn’t find any purpose to anything. Even the changing seasons seemed to be the same, what was the difference really? When every single day is spent being the background character in the bigger story of someone else. Denki hoped in the very least he was the comedic relief. AT LEAST. 

On this particular day, Denki was sitting on the public bus. It was incredibly crowded, many people stood holding onto the hooks on the roof of the bus. The bus smelled like gasoline and grimy Cheetos. It made him feel almost dirty, like he hadn’t showered in weeks. But alas, we can’t all afford the luxury of cars in today’s economy. It was just cheaper this way. Denki pulled out the walkman he had received from his grandmother for his birthday. It was all he had wanted, he hated being unable to listen to music whenever he wanted. 

Today was special, because along with his special new walkman, he also received his first ever mixtape. His friend had gifted it to him, with all her favorite songs on it too. She told him to stop listening to “old people music”. It was just classic rock really. What was wrong with the classics? The sleeve of the mixtape was poorly decorated, well she had tried her best. She was never a great artist anyways. It was a depiction of them as stick figures, holding hands. When he pulled out the tape and saw the little stick figures it made him smile to himself. The back was a list of all of the songs she had put on there specifically for him. Her handwriting was huge, he noticed how she tried to fit everything by dramatically decreasing the size of the letters as she progressed. 

Denki opened the case of the mixtape and put it in the cassette slot of his walkman. He pressed play, and looked to the back of the case. The first song was called Tren Al Sur by Los Prisoneros. He wasn’t too familiar with the group or what kind of music that they particularly made, but he gave it a chance anyways. If it was a gift from her, then he would appreciate every microscopic aspect of it.

His facial expressions changed as the song progressed, to say it was anything ordinary was an insult. The lyrics flowed beautifully and he was that poor boy the song described. He was that boy that all others looked down upon. It was like this song was his purpose. His ultimate calling. The only problem was finding that train- that train to the south. What south? How would he know where to go? 

Realistically, Denki couldn’t go anywhere? How could he? He was not certain if it was a normal occurrence to suddenly want to go to an unknown location. Somewhere south? Where south? He would know when he got there. He was sure it was all a part of the plan, his greater life purpose. 

He snapped out of his thoughts and began to pay attention to the songs on her mixtape again. They seemed nice enough, but all he could think of was Tren al Sur. 

All of that thinking had caused him to miss his stop. He shook his head up in disbelief and quickly rushed to the front of the bus and waited for the next stop. He couldn’t afford to lose more time. In his friend’s eyes, fashionably late was a statement. However, later than twenty minutes? That was overkill. 

He couldn’t wait to see her. She had brought him one of the loveliest sources of ideas. His mind was full. He was at the beginning of the most beautiful series of events that would occur in his life. It all began and ended with her. 

The bus had finally come to a halt, and he quickly rushed out. Now he had to find the quickest way to the tiny restaurant at the corner of Bingley Street. He headed north as he approached the restaurant he had dined at at least a thousand times throughout the course of his youth. It was a restaurant entitled ‘Angelina’s’. It was a family owned italian restaurant, and it had stood on Bingley for longer than Denki had existed. 

Denki’s feet quickly came to a halt as he spotted the restaurant. He pushed his hands against the wide double doors, and scanned the area for bright pink hair. After bobbing his head around foolishly looking, he finally spotted the person he was looking for. He ran to the table and sat down abruptly on the cushioned seat across the pink haired girl. He took sharp breaths as he tried to regain his composure. 

She spoke first, “So, Denki d’ya listen to the tape that I made for you?” She smiled as she stared at her friend who was attempting to recover from the running that had clearly occurred. He nodded his head, and stuck his pointer finger out in front of her. He was taking way too long to recover, it was laughable. 

“Good. I was going to throw you halfway across this room if you had said no.” 

The color had finally started to come back to his face. He took her glass of water and began to drink furiously. 

“Jesus, Denki. Drink a little slower, I don’t want you to choke on your water or anything.” She laughed, noting Denki’s urgency to quench his thirst. He slammed the empty glass against the table, and she knew he was finally ready to speak. 

“Sorry Val, it was just so exhausting getting here. I didn’t want to be extremely late, I care about your time.” 

“It’s okay.” she shook her head. 

“Did you already order?” 

“Yep. I ordered our usual. I think I should’ve ordered more water for you, though.” 

“A man needs to drink a ridiculous amount of water ONCE, and now it’s a problem. May I remind you Val, you aren’t so perfect yourself. Remember that ONE time..”

She brought her hands to Denki’s lips.

“Be quiet! I remember, I remember perfectly. Now let's drop it. Okay? Consider this forgotten.” she dropped her hands from his lips. He nodded smiling, he had won.

Their usual order consisted of breadsticks, and a shared order of chicken alfredo. The food came in such large portions that it was almost impossible for them to consume such a large meal without sharing. As he looked at Val, she stuck her tongue out in defiance. The food finally arrived at their table. One of the eldest children of Angelina's restaurant sat the plates down. It was Zachary, he was a tall, awkward looking boy. He had freckles scattered throughout his face, and long and luscious dark hair. 

“Thank you Zack. Tell your parents I said hi.” Val said in a teasing tone. He quickly nodded his head and bumped into an empty table as he made his way to different guests.  
“Val, that wasn’t very nice. You know he likes you.” Denki couldn’t help but laugh. 

“Whatever. Eat your food, or it will get cold.” She unwrapped her silverware and stuck her fork in the center of their shared meal. Denki raised his eyes to look at her. She always did the most excessive and unnecessary things. 

“So…”

“Hmm.”

“I really liked the first song on the mixtape. It was different.” He said as he poked his fork in the food.

“Really? I thought that your favorite song on there would have been Time by Culture Club. I didn’t think you would like the first song that much. I just wanted an excuse to listen to it on your sound system.” She took a sip of Denki’s water.

“This is going to sound ridiculous Val, but I think that the song was speaking about me.” He looked down, unsure of what her reaction would be. 

“In what way?” she met eyes with him.

“In all ways, silly.”

“Where do you suppose we will find a train?”

“I don’t know? We will just have to find one.”

Val dropped the topic, and consequently they ate the remainder of their meal in utter silence. 

Denki reached into his pockets, frantically searching for change. His tense face lit up as he found what he was searching for. 

“What are you so freaked out about? I’m the one that is paying for our food.” Val sarcastically rolled her eyes.

“It’s your turn. So… Stop complaining.”

Zachary handed Val the bill and left as quickly as he came. She filled the bill’s faux leather booklet with money, and began to organize their used dishes. Denki blankly stared at her as she did so. It was always fun to see Val do small labor tasks, she hated exerting any energy into mundane activities. 

When all of the plates and utensils were organized perfectly, Denki placed his tip on the table. 

“Did you give them the exact amount they charged?” He foolishly had forgotten to ask earlier. 

“Duh.”

“Good. Lets go.” 

They got up from their respective seats from across one another, Denki stood in place until Val reached him. She grabbed a hold of his hand, and they exited the facility together. Hand holding was a custom that they had done since childhood, even as they grew older, they insisted on holding hands. It was a comforting feeling, somewhat like the purity that childhood offers.  
They came to a halt at the pedestrian crosswalk. Val hummed impatiently as she waited for it to signal that they could walk across. Before Denki could even think, she was dragging him across. 

And then, she wasn’t.

He was thrown across the hard pavement, and a few meters away there she was. 

Strangers surrounded the pair, yapping about concerns. There was an ambulance coming, one had said. 

He could barely see her, she was so far. If he could only get up, but his head felt like it was spinning, and he was coughing so much blood.  
The only thing that satisfied him, was her pink hair. It reminded him that she was with him. 

She is still living.


	2. Chapter Two

The most gratifying emotion that the world has to offer is the sanctity and security of another. In a modern world where each individual feels the looming loneliness within each crevice of ordinary life, there are gems hidden throughout. Luckily for our hero, he had found such luxurious comforts early on in life. When the world is simpler, and the stresses of adult life are so distant, it almost seems ‘made up’. Where adults take care of all necessities, and mother’s arms are the most tender and safe place.

He first met her at the age of seven. He was an overly confident child, he always knew how to make his peers laugh. That’s the way that he asserted himself, making stupid jokes at the teacher and petty pranks at others. It was October when Valeria had joined his second grade class. 

Her first day in the class, she had spoken to no one.

As the days progressed, the pattern continued, she spoke to no one. She only spoke to the teacher when it was incredibly necessary.

Denki noticed how all of the other children played together. But Valeria did not play with them, she never even tried to play with them on the spacious playground. Every single day, she would walk to the swings and lightly swing, looking at the sunny sky. 

He was determined. He was going to be friends with her, the strange girl with light pink hair.

After his resolution, he spent the next afternoon devising a plan. He paced back and forth in his living room, thinking of the perfect plan. His mother had to come by and ask him why he was acting this way a few times. How curious? To see her son so worked up, and about what?

After much deliberation, Denki had finally concluded that the plan was simple. So simple, that there had been no reason to cause such a ruckus in the first place. He was going to sit on the swing next to her, and speak. It was so.. Incredibly simple!

The next day he went to the swings, and there she was! His heart thumped in anticipation. What if she refused to speak to him? Nonetheless, he made his way towards her, and sat on the neighboring swing. It felt tense, suddenly he couldn’t speak, no matter how much he had wanted to. He swung at a medium pace as he gathered all of the confidence he could muster.   
Finally, about ten minutes later he was ready. “Hello, my name is Denki Kaminari. What is yours?” he asked. He avoided making eye contact, because it just made him all in all more nervous to speak. 

An awkward pause of silence occurred after his words. However, a short while later he received a response, “My name is Valeria Cardenas. Why are you on the swings? You usually play over there.” She pointed to the roundabout across the field. 

“Well, I want to be friends with you. So, I came here so we could start being friends.”

“Oh.. We can be friends.”

“Good, cause now you’re stuck with me for life.”

After Denki’s initial approach, he seemed to find any excuse to hang out with Valeria. They would hang out every single day during, and after school. Everyday was a fun and fulfilling day spent by each other's side. Even as they grew older, they found strength in one another’s companionship. 

Presently, our hero was surrounded by a swarm of powder blue cotton curtains. The monotone beeping of the heart monitor, and the mechanical breathing of the oxygen machine were the only audible noises. The bed that the blonde boy occupied, had been used hundreds of times, by multiple other people. All with several conditions, some even on their deathbed. Here he lay, on a mattress filled with the history of individuals that he would never encounter. 

On the chair closest to him, his mother sat. Her hand wrapped around the blonde boy’s limp one. Her face struck with worry, for the child that she had raised, loved, and taught all that he knew. As she admired the soft facial features, she would notice a scowl or a tiny twitch. He was still here. He was alive. 

She looked at her son, unwilling to turn away from fear that he might disappear with one wrong move. Suddenly, someone cleared their throat rather awkwardly from behind. They opened the curtains from their large covers, and it was Valeria’s mother. She was a large woman with a large upper body and awkwardly thin legs. It seemed to fit her demeanor, in the most odd way possible. She took a seat next to the boy's mother, with tears in her eyes. It was obvious that she was fighting the tears back from coming down her face. Her face was contorted in the most odd forms, in order to avoid the tears from falling. 

However, at last she spoke, “My daughter.. My daughter..” She kept trailing off. 

“She’s alright, right? Surely she’s alright.” 

The larger woman nodded her head, before breaking into a sob. 

“My daughter is dead.”

That was all that it took, before the woman beside her began to break down. They held one another in a tight embrace. A noise started to emerge, a large blank sound. It was the heart monitor, the women broke from their embrace. The heart monitor broke into a straight line, and before long, the doctors were pacing in. Surrounding the unconscious body of the boy before them, trying with every measure to ensure that someway, somehow he would live. 

It all proved futile. Sixteen hours and thirty minutes. He is dead.

The world began to spin, and a large mist followed. The once unconscious boy was now in a completely different location. He was no longer on the pavement of Bingley St, but rather he was in a cushioned chair. There were people on either side of him, and it seemed that they were in some sort of waiting area. 

There was a glass table in the center of the room, filled with magazines that seemed at least ten years old. The walls were a light peach tone, and all of the couches were the same pearl shade. Across the room, there was a large desk, full of different receptionists. They all scowled as they focused on their seemingly taxing jobs. Whatever it was that they had to do.

He tapped the man who was next to him. 

“Hello, where are we? What is this place?” he asked. 

The man beside him turned, and glared at the blonde boy. The man rolled his eyes, almost acting as if it should’ve been obvious. 

“We are in purgatory. If it wasn’t already obvious, you’re dead.”   
The man picked up a magazine from the glass table, and proceeded to ignore him. 

Denki is dead. He no longer exists, at least in the way that he used to. He couldn’t ever be held in his mother’s embrace, or spend time with his grandmother. He couldn’t see Val, or even go to school. He couldn’t bear to even imagine the pain that his mother was going through. It hurt him to imagine that his mother was in pain, and he wished that he could be with her.   
The analog clock on the front desk ticked. Every second mocked him, why would someone need a clock in purgatory? Does the world of dead people really need a clock? Does time really matter if you’re dead? He felt that he was going insane with every single second. He decided that it would be best to go to one of the pamphlet racks on either side. One of the pamphlets read, “So you’re dead, now what?” . 

Although the title seemed extremely sarcastic and ridiculous, he picked it up. Maybe this would help him sort out through the fact that he is dead? Never in the history of the world can a person come back from that. Wounds can be healed, but once one is swallowed by the twisted hands of death, there’s no coming back. 

The pamphlet read as follows :  
Accepting that you have died.   
It is natural that after a certain point in life, a person will meet their end. All of humanity must die, and although it is scary, it is completely natural. Learning to cope with the fact, and what comes after may be frightening. However, it is not as scary as many people may think. Finding your own ground and peace with the afterlife can be an amazing experience. 

Denki wanted to yell until he couldn’t anymore. This idiotic pamphlet had no relevant information. Obviously he was dead, but how was ‘learning how to cope’ going to tell him how to get the hell out of here? 100 percent pun intended. 

He got up from his seat again, and approached the front desk. He went to one of the many receptionists, and tapped on the wooden desk to get her attention. She looked up at him at once, and looked annoyed. Why were all dead people so irritable?

“Ma’am, how do I get out of here?”

“The wait to get out of purgatory can range. Our job- (pointing to other receptionists) is to register you as dead. Once that process is done, you can take the train to the Underworld.” She explained, by her tone it was obvious she wanted to continue her work. 

“I’m sorry, I know that I took a lot of your time already. But, is there any way we could speed up the process for me?” 

Her face immediately beamed. He was obviously one of the only people to ask. 

“Yes! Now that you mention it there is. You have to fill out a lengthy form. Most people despise it because it is 300 pages long, that’s why we have to input the information ourselves.” She handed him a large printed document, along with a pen. 

He sighed, it seemed that no matter what he would be subjected to some sort of waiting. He sat back down on his chair again, this back and forth was becoming too much.   
He began to think of the only person he had neglected to think of, out of fear. Val was dead, but she wasn’t here. Naturally there is only one Underworld, so he needed to find her. There was no way he wouldn’t, he just needed to fill in his.. Lengthy ‘death form’.


	3. Chapter 3

When the blonde boy had finally finished his form, he was relieved. After so many unimportant and nuanced questions, he had finally finished. This meant he could go to the train station and reconnect with Val as soon as possible. He longed to see his dear friend. 

He longed to feel her hand securely around his once more. He longed to hear her voice again, it seemed nearly impossible at this moment. Denki wondered how he had even gotten to purgatory in the first place. One second he was walking down the street hand in hand with Val, one sudden misstep and it was all gone. He lost all of his friends, his family, and Val all in one. It was all stripped away before he really got to live. Denki didn’t have concrete dreams, but now because he was dead he could never have any. Rage filled him to the brim, how could this happen to him? He was dead and everything that mattered or had the potential to was null. All he had was the knowledge he had when he died. Were there careers in the Underworld? Or achievable pursuits?

He shook his head, and took his form to the front desk. He slammed the large stack of paper on the desk, and looked at the receptionist with a confident smile. She looked up, again annoyed at how persistent he was. 

“Alright, now I am finished with the form. What do I do? Do I just turn it in, and then I can dip?”

“Yes, go down the street. The train station is right there, it is impossible to miss.”  
Denki nodded his head, and went to the exit. They were large glass double doors, he pushed them open. He ran down the street, with great urgency. With every step that he took, he was one step closer to reuniting with the one person who understood him best. He came to a rough halt when he noticed several benches aligned for people to sit in. He assumed that clearly this was the train stop. It was a truly odd situation to have train tracks littering the terrain. On earth, there were cars virtually everywhere. In the afterlife there were just train tracks. 

He looked at the times in the tiny slot post above him. He still could not fathom that the concept of time would be necessary. If everyone is dead, why would being timely or organized matter? It is the same state of nothingness for the entirety of eternity. How morbid. 

There were several time slots that reached various locations. No place that he had ever heard of anyway. He began to grow anxious, he did not know where to go. And it seemed that everyone around him hated the idea of helping. 

Nonetheless, he needed help, and he needed it NOW. If the next person he asked did not help him, he was going to go insane. He approached a boy around his age. He had platinum blonde hair, it almost looked unnatural. It went in different directions, and he noticed that he had blazing crimson eyes. Denki was afraid to approach the boy, after all of his previous cries for help.   
“Hello, I am Denki. Do you happen to know what train leads to the underworld” He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.   
“Are you dumb? All of the trains lead to the Underworld. Where in the Underworld are you heading?” the boy retorted, examining Denki really closely.  
“Well, you see.. I don’t really know? I’m guessing that I died a few days or weeks ago. I’m new.”  
“Did you not read the pamphlet?”  
“What pamphlet?”  
“The pamphlet called ‘So you’re dead, now what?’. Duh.” he scoffed.   
“We were supposed to read that?”   
The red eyed boy threw his back in laughter. He had a violent laugh, but it rang nicely. It fit his dominant persona.   
“Well, I’ll explain how it works. The train has 4 stops. The first, which leaves at 12:45 is for paradise, where all of the ‘good’ people go. The second, is where all of the people that did petty crimes must go, their train leaves at 14 hours. The third is where all lost souls go. That train is set to leave at 16 hours. The fourth stop is where the working city is. You know, where all of the order of the Underworld happens.”  
“Where are you going?” Denki asked.  
“ Do you know where you’re going?” The red eyed boy dodged the question.  
“No, was that in your pamphlet?” Denki added sarcastically.  
“They tell you once you’re finished with your paperwork.”  
“Well the lady I talked to didn’t.”  
“You’re such a disorganized little shit. You know what, I’ll tell you where you probably need to go. You probably need to go to the third.”  
“The place for lost souls?!” Denki scoffed.   
“Yep.”  
“Well where are YOU going?? Huh? Since you know everything and you’re so smart” Denki replied accusingly. 

“I’m going to the fourth. I’m going to my appeal meeting to be moved from second to first.” He looked rather proud. It did not make sense. 

“What did you do to get to second?”

“I robbed a bank.”

“Why?”

“Because capitalism is the root of all evil.”

“What’s your name?” Denki realized he had been having a long conversation with the boy in front of him and had never asked. 

“My name is Katsuki.” 

“Interesting..?”

Katsuki rolled his eyes. 

“But what makes you think that I would be in third?” Denki asked.

“Well to be fair, you were a bit lost. Get it?” The blonde boy laughed at his own joke. 

“Haha. Soooo funny.” He rolled his eyes. 

Katsuki was one of the most insufferable people he had met in his entire life. And he was dead.


End file.
